TY - JOUR AU - Ibañez, Lisa V. AU - Stoep, Ann Vander AU - Myers, Kathleen AU - Zhou, Chuan AU - Dorsey, Shannon AU - Steinman, Kyle J. AU - Stone, Wendy L. PY - 2019 DA - 2019/06/07 TI - Promoting early autism detection and intervention in underserved communities: study protocol for a pragmatic trial using a stepped-wedge design JO - BMC Psychiatry SP - 169 VL - 19 IS - 1 AB - Despite the known benefits of early, specialized intervention for toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), access to such intervention remains limited. This pragmatic trial examines a novel healthcare delivery model (Screen-Refer-Treat [SRT]), which capitalizes upon existing health care and early intervention (EI) infrastructure to increase community capacity for ASD detection and treatment before age 3, when it is likely to have the greatest impact. This model comprises three components: (1) universal use of Stage 1 ASD screening by primary care providers (PCPs) at 18-month well-child visits (i.e., Screen); (2) immediate referral of positive screens to a community-based EI program (i.e., Refer); and (3) provision of an inexpensive, evidence-based ASD-specialized treatment by EI providers, after verifying ASD risk with a Stage 2 screen (i.e., Treat). This paper describes our research design and the initial successes, challenges, and adaptations made during the early implementation phase. SN - 1471-244X UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2150-3 DO - 10.1186/s12888-019-2150-3 ID - Ibañez2019 ER -